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News Research

Yuan climbs most since China ended dollar link

(Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-12-27 11:17

The Chinese yuan climbed 219 basis points to break the 7.32 and 7.31 mark Thursday, with the central parity rate at record 7.3079 to the US dollar, according to the Chinese Foreign Exchange Trading System.

It is the biggest rise of the Chinese currency since China ended yuan's peg to the greenback on July 21, 2005. The accumulative appreciation since then has exceeded 10 percent.

The Chinese currency advanced 6.2 percent versus the dollar this year, compared with 3.3 percent in 2006.

The central parity rate of yuan stood at 10.5800 to one euro.

The People's Bank of China might loose the floating band of the exchange rate of RMB, making it more flexible, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

International News

Time magazine names Putin 'Person of the Year'
Updated: 2007-12-19 21:55

NEW YORK - Russian President Vladimir Putin was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year."

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Greece Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, unseen, during a news conference in Moscow's Kremlin on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis arrived in Moscow on Monday for an official visit focused on expanding energy and military cooperation between Russia and NATO member Greece. [Agencies]

The 2007 honor went to the Russian leader because of Putin's "extraordinary feat of leadership in taking a country that was in chaos and bringing it stability," said Richard Stengel, Time's managing editor.

Others who were in the running included Nobel Prize-winner Al Gore and author J.K. Rowling.

This year's honor was a return to the magazine's tradition of picking an individual rather than last year's choice of anyone creating or using content on the World Wide Web.

Previous winners have also included Bono, President George W. Bush and Amazon.com CEO and founder Jeff Bezos.

Industry News

Middle class does not feel rich – poll

[ 2007-12-26 17:37 ]

China's middle class may be booming, but a majority of respondents to a recent survey said they do not feel so wealthy.

Only 12.7 percent of a poll conducted by China Youth Daily and Sina.com said they think they are living a middle-class life.

The poll, entitled "Who will become the middle class in 10 years?" found that about 83 percent of the 7,313 people interviewed think a typical middle class Chinese needs to have a good and steady income, a house and a car.

Nearly 70 percent think the middle class needs higher education and good manners. About 60 percent think a decent profession is a crucial feature that defines the middle class.

The survey follows a similar study released earlier this month by HSBC, Fudan University and MasterCard Worldwide.

That survey, which interviewed 1,736 people in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou from February to May, researched spending patterns of the country's increasingly affluent middle class.

It found that the number of middle-class consumers in the country is expected to increase to100 million in the 10 years from 35 million in 2006.

A Chinese middle class is defined by the survey as someone whose annual income ranges from $7,500 to $25,000 and who is between 20 to 49 years of age.

However, the latest survey found that only 2.2 percent of respondents agree with that definition.

More than 30 percent of those surveyed chose investment and finance as the best paths to becoming middle class.

Nearly 20 percent think a good collection of social networks and resources will make people richer and 15 percent believe in diligence at work.

The speed at which people join the middle class varies between professions.

The survey found Chinese think those in the science and technology and IT industries are the quickest to get rich, followed by those in the banking, finance and investment industries.

Domestic News

China's economic growth an opportunity to Japan,world

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-26 14:42

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said in Tokyo Tuesday before his upcoming visit to China that China's economic development offers a good opportunity to Japan as well as to the rest of the world.

During an interview with Xinhua and other Chinese media at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Fukuda said that China's economic development is important to Japan's economic growth.

"Bilateral ties have become increasingly complementary, and one cannot do without the other," he said.

China is Japan's largest trading partner while Japan is the largest investor in China, Fukuda said, adding that further promotion of economic cooperation and exchange is important to the healthy growth of both countries' economies as well as the stability and development of Asia and the world.

Commenting on the peaceful development of China, Fukuda said that China's development offers a good opportunity to Japan and the rest of the world. The healthy growth of Japan-China relations is of great significance to the two nations and the two peoples as well as Asia and the world. With such consensus, Japan is willing to develop future-oriented ties with China based on mutual understanding and trust, he said.

Japan is ready to promote dialogue and exchange with China in all areas and at all levels with emphasis on exchange between the young people who shoulder the countries' future, Fukuda said.

Fukuda is scheduled to begin a four-day official visit to China on Thursday.